Helen Brought to Paris

Benjamin West was in a complicated position as painter to King George III. He was an American who had made his reputation with classical scenes painted for English aristocrats and royalty. Yet, in a court ruled by strict etiquette, West and the king had many frank conversations about the tensions brewing in the American colonies. The union of Helen and Paris led to the Trojan war, and the shadow falling over Cupid's face at the center of this painting may reflect West's fear of war between the monarch and his subjects across the Atlantic.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006